In “The Witcher” prequel series “Blood Origin”, the sinister mage Balor craves power – and should look very, very familiar to many fantasy fans. You’ve probably seen him recently…
If we assume that you, as fantasy fans, devour everything that hits the big screen and the home screen, then you have most likely also seen the Amazon prestige project “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”. If that’s the case, and you’ve also checked out the new Netflix series “The Witcher: Blood Origin”, then one of the “Blood Origin” stars should look very familiar to you: Lenny Henry as the mage Balor (see news picture above).
Because Lenny Henry is also in season 1 of the “Lord of the Rings” series, albeit with a slightly more tousled look: Henry plays the Harfoot elder Sadoc Burrows (in the German dubbing: Sadoc Lochner). Like all the other Harfeet, Sadoc is one of the characters who do not exist in J.R.R. Tolkien’s originals and who have been reinvented for the Amazon series.
Lenny Henry as Sadoc
But while Lenny Henry plays a nice guy with his heart in the right place in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, it’s a very different story in “The Witcher” prequel series “Blood Origin”: In it, he can be seen as the power-hungry mage Balor, who pursues his very own goals in the royal court of Xin’trea. He sees great potential in the monoliths, through which one can travel to other dimensions – not only for the elves, but above all for himself personally…
If you want to see Lenny Henry in another series role, then we can recommend the fantastic series “Broadchurch”, in whose third season Henry can be seen in all eight episodes as Ed Burnett. And since you should be through with just four episodes of “The Witcher: Blood Origin” in no time, you’re probably also looking for a new series to binge on. So go for it with “Broadchurch” – for FILMSTARTS editor Markus Trutt it is even one of the best series of all time:
